During medieval times, these mystical plants were burned at Midsummer’s Eve bonfires to ward off evil spirits, as the flowers looked like miniature suns and were believed to have great protective powers, and they bloomed at the time of the summer solstice.
The Christian calendar designated Midsummer – June 24 – as the feast day of St. John the Baptist, re-associating this long-revered plant with the saint. The word “wort” is a Germanic word-part given to medicinal plants.